


Following the Future

by jadesparrow333



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Fortune Telling, Gen, Sea Grunkles, but don't worry, there's a fight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 14:42:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29902662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jadesparrow333/pseuds/jadesparrow333
Summary: Stan and Ford visit a fortune teller who doesn't have happy news.  Are they destined to repeat their past?
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16
Collections: Stanuary





	Following the Future

**Author's Note:**

> The story Ford is telling at the beginning was based off an awesome piece by eregyrn-falls-art on tumblr, which in turn was based off of the concept by agent-jaselin on tumblr.

“...so _then_ I jump out the window and almost drop the rainbow cutlass, with ten Glam Pirate Guards shooting-“ Ford stopped mid-sentence and froze on the boardwalk.

“And then what?” Stan asked, his mouth full of the last of his cotton candy. “C’mon, Sixer, you can’t just stop in the middle of that story!”

“Stanley, there’s a fortune teller over there.” Ford said in a faraway voice.

Stan looked at the dilapidated kiosk. “Find Your Future,” a sign said in peeling paint, the moons and stars painted on the wood weathered and barely visible. “Yeah? So? It’s basically the same thing as what Mom did…” he trailed off as he saw the far away look in his brother’s eyes. “Hey, earth to Ford!” He waved a hand in front of Ford’s face.

“Did I ever tell you about the carnival Fiddleford and I visited right before he quit?” Ford asked softly. “They had a fortune teller… and she knew what my future was. She gave me a ring…”

“Heh, what, you engaged or something?” Stan teased. “I don’t think she waited for thirty years, Sixer,”

“No, Stanley, not like that,” Ford said in a slightly annoyed voice, snapping out of his fog. “She said I was on a bad path and the ring would change color to tell me when it was too late to go back.”

“Yuh-huh,” Stan said deadpan, clearly unimpressed. 

“Stanley, she was right,” Ford said, and something in his voice chased all the sarcasm out of Stan. “The ring changed, I realized Bill was using the portal to come take over our dimension, you and I fought…” he shook his head, then a grin suddenly appeared on his face. “Do you know what this means?”

“Uh… not really, no.” Stan said, so confused by his brother’s sudden change of mood he failed to come up with a witty remark.

“Fortune tellers are anomalies that must be studied!” Ford said excitedly, and began steering Stan in the direction of the kiosk.

“Oh come on,” Stan complained. “These guys are just a bunch of second rate hucksters- believe me, I know! You know Mom was a fake psychic, _I_ told fortunes for a couple of years at the Shack... a ten year old brat in Gravity Falls even did it! Set up a tent and-“ he stopped as they went through the beaded curtains into the kiosk. “Everything.” he finished softly.

The entire little room _glimmered,_ sequins and beads reflected the soft light from candles and dozens of star shaped lamps hanging from the ceiling. Stan almost felt as if he were floating in a galaxy, the real world far behind him. “Ford,” he started quietly.

“Yes Stan?” Ford asked softly, looking around in awe.

“Welcome,” a raspy voice sounded from a darkened corner. The brothers turned to face a haggard looking woman in shimmering fabric walk through yet another beaded curtain. “Please sit down first, Stan.”

Ford looked at Stan, his eyebrow raised. Stan snorted; whatever enchantment the room had over him broken due to his recognition of the trick. It was easy: you just hung out in the shadows until the suckers started talking, gleaning as much information as you could before dramatically revealing yourself and putting them off balance with something you overheard.

The woman sat down at a table with a crystal ball in the center, and beckoned Stan over. 

“Sorry, sister,” Stan folded his arms and glared. “I ain’t here for your tricks. This was all _his_ idea,” he cocked his head in Ford’s direction.

Ford gave his brother a smile. “Stanley, we’re merely investigating. This is just an experiment.” He took his journal out and readied his pen, looking expectantly at Stan.

Stan grumbled and sat down across from the fortune teller. “Let’s get this over with,” he sighed, holding out his palm.

The woman gave him an appraising look. “Money first,” she said. “Twenty dollars.”

“Twenty-” Stan turned to Ford. “Sixer, come on!”

“The sooner you get your fortune told, the sooner we can leave.” Ford said mildly.

Stan leaned forward to grab his wallet out of his back pocket, and decided to use one of his state of the art counterfeit bills instead of the real thing.

Ford may have met a real fortune teller, but Stan was pretty sure this person wasn’t it.

But as he threw his fake twenty dollar bill on the table, the candles suddenly went out and the crystal ball started to glow. But even worse, the woman began speaking in a voice quite different than her own.

_All good things come to an end._

_What happened once will happen again_

_The worst for you hasn’t happened yet_

_Can one forgive if one cannot forget?_

Stan’s jaw dropped, but he rapidly recovered as the lights somehow came back on. “Ugh,” he shuddered, and yanked his arm away and quickly stood up. “Welp, I think we’re done here, right Sixer?” He looked over at Ford so they could share a good laugh, but the blood had drained from Ford’s face, and he was standing there with his mouth open.

_That_ gave Stan the heebie jeebies; Ford was usually unflappable. They had seen some pretty freaky stuff the past year while sailing, and Ford was always more… eager to observe than scared at anything they saw. 

But that wasn’t the case now.

“OK, let’s go,” Stan said with false joviality, not looking back at the fortune teller and steering his brother out just as he had been steered in.

“Hey Ford, we’re outta there now,” he said as they stepped into the sunlight. “Told ya she was just a fraud. I bet she uses that weird poem on everyone in there.”

Ford looked at Stan, then smiled. “Yes, you’re probably right.” He took a deep breath. “I think it’s probably dinner time- unless you spoiled your appetite with that cotton candy.”

Stan laughed. “Are ya kidding me? Never. Let’s go.”

But dinner was quiet, each brother mulling over the rhyme from the fortune teller. Was it true?

It happened once… Were they really going to lose each other again?

The next week they were at each other’s throats.

“How hard is it to tie a knot, _Poindexter_?” Stan asked exasperatedly, sarcastically calling out his brothers supposed genius. “We’ve only been doing this for a year!”

“I would have had more time to do it properly if we weren’t being chased by a drunken angry mob!” Ford snapped back.

“Five guys who can’t tell the difference between talent and cheating isn’t a mob!” Stan scoffed. “‘Sides, it’s not like we haven’t had to make a quick getaway before!”

“Exactly!” Ford said. “This isn’t the first time we’ve been chased by angry townsfolk, and at the rate you’re going it’s unlikely to be our last!”

“At the rate _I’m_ going?” Stan asked angrily. “Geez, so I guess that darts fiasco from last month was _my_ fault?! And what about that,” he moved his fingers up to make sarcastic air quotes “‘scientific discussion’ that ended up with me getting a black eye when I was tryin’ t’get you outta there? Maybe I’ll just leave you by yourself next time and see how you do!”

Ford stopped, looking at Stan as if he’d been slapped. “She was right,” he said quietly, leaning heavily on the rail. “‘All good things must come to an end, what happened once will happen again.’” He looked at his brother miserably. “You’re leaving again, aren’t you?”

Stan’s jaw dropped. “Do… do you want me to?” He asked softly, the shock covering the pain that would have otherwise been in his voice.

“No!” Ford said, the word drenched with hurt.

“Good.” Stan said. “‘Cause I ain’t leavin’ you. I spent 30 years teaching myself math to get you back. _Math,_ Sixer. You think I’m going to waste all that just because we argue sometimes?” He shook his head and crossed his arms. “You’ll have to go first.”

“Well that’s ridiculous,” Ford scoffed. “Why would I leave my best friend and partner in crime? I’ve never had so much fun in my life, and I stayed in Dimension 55*DL for a year.”

“You never told me about that,” Stan said, the start of a grin on his face.

“I don’t tell you everything,” Ford said with false haughtiness. He sighed. “So. If neither of us is going to leave…”

“It just means we’re stuck together!” Stan said joyfully. “Look, that old fortune teller was a fake. Seriously. Those candles were probably battery operated or something, and maybe she’s a really 

good voice actress or whatever. Even if she _was_ real, so what? Point is, we know we’re not gonna split up just because neither of us is gonna leave. Some crusty old crone isn’t gonna change that.”

Ford smiled at his brother. “You’re right.”

“‘Course I am.” Stan said, then frowned. “What were we arguing about?”

Ford shrugged. “Who cares? Why dwell in the past when we have the entire future ahead of us?”

Stan let out a belly laugh. “So it must’ve been about something _you_ did, if you want us to forget!” 

“You wish,” Ford answered with a grin, and they looked off into the horizon. Their future. 

Together.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Epilogue: The knot that Ford didn’t tie correctly ended up stranding them in the middle of a colony of merkitties for two days, but they were so cute neither of them minded.

**Author's Note:**

> Final entry for Stanuary 2021! What a great challenge and opportunity!


End file.
